Q: Why is there a museum about puppets in Atlanta?
A: Fifty years ago, when Vincent Anthony wanted to start his own puppetry company in the South, he picked Atlanta because of its central location and developing arts community.
The Florida native and touring puppeteer moved to Georgia’s capital, where in 1966, he created and based his traveling puppet company, the Vagabond Marionettes.
Anthony said he was drawn to the growing arts community surrounding Midtown’s Woodruff Arts Center, which began construction the same year on Peachtree Street. Anthony’s Vagabond Marionettes performed several seasons at the Woodruff Arts Center location. In 1978, he moved his puppets to a permanent location at a former elementary school on Spring Street and founded the Center for Puppetry Arts.
At the time, he served as the president of the Puppeteers of America and was helping to plan the 1980 World Puppetry Festival in Washington D.C. Anthony said he proposed his idea for a opening a permanent puppetry center and received support and advice from his colleagues, including Muppets creator Jim Henson.
“I talked with them about taking over the school and putting these programs in place on a year-round basis. Everybody liked those ideas,” said Anthony, who now serves as the center’s Barbara and Bill Wylly executive director. “When we were working on that plan, I asked Jim Henson if he and Kermit the Frog would come and cut the ribbon to open the center, and he agreed.”
Henson remained involved in the Center for Puppetry Arts, and after his death in 1990, his family continued their support. Many retired Muppets and Sesame Street characters, including Kermit, Miss Piggy and Big Bird, are housed in the Jim Henson Collection at the center’s Worlds of Puppetry Museum.
While still based in the same Spring Street location, the center added a new facility in 2015, which allowed it to increase the size of the Worlds of Puppetry Museum. In addition to the Jim Henson Collection, visitors can also browse the Global Collection and special exhibits. The current special exhibit features the puppetry of India.
Visitors can attend live performances and movie screenings, or take classes to learn how to build a puppet.
“We have a whole series of special events taking place all year long,” Anthony said. “For instance, with the India exhibit we’re opening, we’ll have two very rare performances of the puppetry of India. We’ll actually have two live performances in our theater to go along with our special exhibit.”
The center stays involved in the Atlanta community. During the 2017 Dragon Con, it hosted the Labyrinth Masquerade Ball for cosplayers.
The center offers seasonal programming as well. Through Dec. 31, the center will present live puppet shows of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” based on the 1964 stop-motion movie.
If you’re new in town or have questions about this special place we call home, ask us! E-mail q&a@ajc.com or call 404-222-2002.
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